Habit 7: Sharpen The Saw

Introduction

Habit Seven of Stephen R Covey’s seven habits of highly effective people is “Sharpen the Saw”. According to Stephen R Covey, we must take a sufficient amount of time to refresh and rejuvenate the four dimensions of our nature. These four dimensions of our nature are physical, spiritual, mental, and social/emotional. We must regularly spend time and invest our resources to reap the dividends on a continual basis. Abraham Lincoln once said, “Give me six hours to chop down a tree, and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.” Lincoln understood the importance of “Sharpen the Saw” and became president of the United States. We can call this habit “Self Care Habit” because this habit increases our awareness of ourselves. By taking 30-60 minutes out of our schedule to sharpen our metaphorical saw, we can achieve maximum productivity in the rest of the waking hours. This habit increases our competency which in turn increases our influence on the outer world. If anyone says that he doesn’t have time to sharpen the saw then that excuse can become the reason for his failure, angst, burnout, and mediocrity.

The 4 Dimensions of Life

1. Physical: According to Stephen Covey, we must take great care of our first dimension of life which is also known as the Physical Dimension. We cannot focus on any other dimension if we feel physically weak. Suppose senior management believes in you and provided the opportunity to execute the critical project. At that time, you fall ill for multiple days then they will lose confidence in your personality. Nelson Mandela once said that “Exercise is the key not only to physical health but to peace of mind.” Successful people understand the importance of physical fitness and take great care of their health to achieve long-term success. But general public used to give multiple excuses for not following a good health regime. Covey said that we must specifically focus on exercising, eating right, and getting enough sleep each night & other things will automatically fall into place. 

Don't forget to watch the struggles of Vallabhbhai Patel:

2. Spiritual: Our sense of purpose in life is driven by the spiritual dimension and it’s the reason for who you are and why you do what you do. It’s very easy to neglect the importance of the Spiritual dimension as our daily chores take maximum part of our waking time. But if we lag on this dimension then we will become hollow from inside. It may happen that while doing some work, you wonder “What am I doing with my life?” or one of your family got a terminal disease. The spiritual dimension provides a solid foundation and rock string will power to tackle major problems of life. As a swimmer cannot compete in Olympics without practice, you have to keep sharpening your spiritual blade by following daily practices. As it is rightly said, “I am never in control of what happens around me but I am always in control of what happens within me” and the spiritual dimension helps us to keep healthy from within.
3. Mental: As we are living in a society where most people are now doing mental work, it’s become very important to keep sharpening the mental blade. But most people turn to OTT, Television, or Social Media websites to get useless entertainment in their spare time. Our mental saw becomes dull due to continuous usage during office or study time but it doesn’t mean that we must not use the mind for the rest of the time. The tired parts of the mind can be strengthened by resting while using other parts of the mind in spare time. One of the best ways of working on the mental dimension is to read books with concepts that are above our general comprehension. We can also play Jigsaw puzzles which is also a cognitive activity that not only sharpens our mind but also keeps us away from diseases like Alzheimer’s.

4. Social/Emotional: We are social beings and it’s true that many of us are introverts but even introverts require the support of near and dear ones. New ideas can come while having constructive discussions with other people. Socializing strengthens our mental blade. Few suggestions to sharpen the social saw: Go out for a dinner with a friend, write a WhatsApp message to a loved one, make new friends, join a local Gym and have Gym Partner, keep some distance from toxic people or join a sports team.

Summary

I hope that you have enjoyed our series of articles on Stephen Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. I really enjoyed this learning experience of explaining each and every habit. Read our other articles on Habit 1, Habit 2, Habit 3, Habit 4, Habit 5, and Habit 6. Even if you already know about these habits, even then read these articles again and again. You will subsequently become more effective over time.